Web cutter for single drum winder

ABSTRACT

A web support moves about the drive drum from a parked position to a position supporting the web material away from the drive drum. A toothed knife then severs the web, with the teeth of the knife being received in complementary grooves in the web support so that the knife contacts only the web.

[ Feb. 26, 1974 United States Patent [1 1 Harmon et al.

[ WEB CUTTER FOR SINGLE DRUM 242/56 A 242/56 R l0/l97l 242/56 R 3,529,785 3,586,586 6/l97l Berg............ 3,6l4,0l0

WINDER [75] Inventors: Paul E. Harmon; Richard W.

Phelps, both of Fulton, NY.

Primary Examiner-George F. Mautz Assistant Examiner-John -M. Jillions Attorney,

Agent, or Firm-Biebel, French & Bugg [22] Filed:

ABSTRACT A web support moves about the drive drum from a [52] US. Cl. 242/56 R, 83/557 [51] Int. B65h 19/26 parked position to a iti supporting the web mate- [58] held of Search' 242/56 56 A; 83/337 rial away from the drive drum. A toothed knife then 83/557 severs the web, with the teeth of the knife being received in complementary grooves in the web support so that the knife contacts only the web.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS] lZ/ I955 Bower et 242/56 A 4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTED FEB 2 6 3974 saw 2 HF 2 l WEB CUTTER FOR SINGLE DRUM WINDER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to paper machinery, and more particularly to an apparatus for severing the web of material in a continuous winder apparatus.

Various types of machinery for winding continuous webs of material, such'as paper, plastics, and so on, are well known in the art. Examples include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,703,683 (issued Mar. 8, 1955) and 2,915,255 (issued Dec. 1, 1959), both assigned to the assignee of the present invention. These machines are provided or associated with various knives or other means for severing the web to enable the web to be transferred to a fresh core when an earlier roll has become full.

ln severing the web, some prior art systems strike a cutting knife against the unsupported web and rely on the tension within the web to enable it to be severed. Other systems strike the web with the knife while the web is against a support, such as the drive drum or the take up roll. These prior art systems have not always proven fully satisfactory, however, especially where thick or resistant materials, such as cardboard, plastics, and so on, are encountered. The knives arethen'generally unable to sever such resistant materials unless the materials are supported, and the forces required to sever such materials when supported may frequently damage the knife or the support, especially when the latter is the drive drum or the nearly full roll.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly, the present invention provides a cutting means for use on continuous web winding machinery, such as the single drum winder illustrated. The cutting means of this invention is particularly well adapted for cutting thick and resistant materials.

A web support is mounted for rotation in a circular path about the surface of the drive drum of the single drum winder. When the web is to be cut, the web support moves from a parked position where it is out of contact with the web to a cutting position intermediate the nearly full roll, presently being wound, and the new core onto which the web is to be transferred. ln this position the web support removes the web from contact with the corresponding region of the drive drum.

A knife is mounted above the drive drum for movement toward the web'support when the web support is in the cutting position. The knife has a plurality of teeth on the leading edge thereof which serrate the web of material and thus provide a much more effective cutting action than with a straight, flat blade.

A plurality of channels in the web support receive the knife teeth therethrough in complementary fashion, and enable the teeth to penetrate the web by passing into the channels during the cutting action. At no time, however, does the knife actually contact anything but the web. The knife teeth never touch the web support, the drive drum, the nearly full roll, nor the new core. The web support thus provides firm support for the web during the cutting action while the complementary arrangement of the web support channels and the knife teeth permits the supported web to be cut without knife contact against anything but the web itself.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a web cutting means for a continuous winder for web material; a web cutting means'which is particularly effective in cutting thick and/or resistant web materials;

which provides firm support for the web material during the cutting action, while the knife contacts only the web; which is readily adapted to continuous winders such as single drum winders; which includes a web support movable from a parked position free of contact with the web material to a position causing the web material to move away from the drive drum; which has channels in the web support to receive complementary teeth on a knife for cutting and penetrating the web as the teeth move through the channels and as the web support supports the web material; and to accomplish all of the above objects and purposes in an inexpensive,

uncomplicated, and reliable, configuration having exceptional durability and longevity and which is readily and easily incorporated into existing web winding machinery.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRlPTlON OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partial view of a continuous single drum winder apparatus, showing the web cutting means in the parked position;

FIG, 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1, showing the web support advanced to the cutting position;

FIG. 3 shows the knife and web support cooperating to sever the web for transfer onto a newv core;

FIG. 4 shows the web support and knife returned to the parked positions and the new core partially ad vanced to the position of the earlier full roll;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the cutting action of the knife relative to the web support, showing successive knife positions, and i FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view of the knife and web support taken generally on line 66 of HG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODlMENT With reference to the .drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a portion of a continuous, single drum winder 10 substantially the same as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,703,683 Mar. 8, 1955), assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Winder 10 is thus of conventional design and includes a drive drum 12 for driving a web 13 onto a take up roll 15 at constant roll surface speed. A pair of primary arms 17 supports a new core 19 for starting a new roll-when roll 15 is full.

In order to sever the web material 13 when the winding thereof is to be transferred to the new core 19, the present invention provides a cutting means including a knife 20 and a web support 25. Web support 25 is movable from a parkedposition (FIG. 1) to a cutting position (FIG. 2) where the web support is then located between drum l2 and web 13. The web support cutting position places the web support in the path of the cutting stroke from knife .20, and supports the web material away from drum l2 toassist knife 20 in cutting the web. The cutting action of the knife'is further enhanced by the provision of teeth 27 on the leading edge of the knife, and the provision of complementary channels 28 within web support 25 (FIG. 6). The teeth arethus able to penetrate through and to cut the web in a multiplicity of locations, effectively serrating the web, while the web support continues to support the web between the teeth.

The tooth and channel configuration also enables knife 20 to cut through web 13 without contacting the web support 25 itself. Further, the movement ofweb 13 away from drum 12 and over web support 25 provides an open space 31 just before web support 25 and above drum 12 into which the knife 20 may move, during completion of the cutting action, without contacting drive drum 12. As a result, the knife is able to remain totally free of contact with the web support, drive drum, core, roll, and other portions of winder 10. Wear of knife 20 and web support 25 is thus minimized, while the web cutting means of this invention is able to cut even the most thick and resistant of web materials.

As will readily be appreciated, it is highly undesirable to leave the web support 25 in the cutting position illustrated in FIG. 3, since extreme wear and heating will otherwise occur. This invention therefore includes means for moving the web support 25 from the cutting position, where it is between the drum 12 and web 13, and in supporting contact with the web, to a parked position (FIG. 1), where the web support is free of contact with web 13. A pair of web support arms 35 supports web support 25 for rotational movement in a single direction about the axis of rotation of drive drum l2 and adjacent to the surface thereof. An appropriate drive means 36 is connected in conventional fashion to web support arms 35 to move web support 25 as desired.

The cutting and roll changing sequence thus proceeds as follows. Starting with FIG. 1, the roll 15 is nearly full and web 13 must shortly be transferred to a new core 19. Web support 25 is therefore moved from the parked position of FIG. 110 the cutting position of FIG. 2, following which the new core 19 is moved down to drive drum l2 and brought up to speed (FIG. 3).

When it is time to transfer the web, the knife strikes the web rapidly (FIG. 3) and the severed web is transferred to the new core 19 by conventional means, such as an adhesive on the new core. The cutting action of the knife is illustrated in detail in FIG. 5, where successive positions of the knife are shown as it moves toward the web support and as the knife teeth move through the web support channels.

When winding has commenced on new core 19, the knife 20 is returned to its upper or rest position; the now full roll 15 is removed from the winder the web support 25 is rotated about drum 12 to its parked position; and the new core '19 is moved downwardly into the position formerly occupied by roll 15. This point in the transfer cycle is illustrated in FIG. 4, where the new core 19 has been moved by means of arms 17 almost to the position formerly occupied by roll 15. During the course of this transfer, the movement of Web support 25 about drum 12 has always been in the same direc tion (clockwise as viewed in the Figures), in order first to accommodate roll and then to accommodate the new core 19. I

As may be seen, therefore, this invention has numerous advantages. Due to the support provided by the web support 25 and due to the teeth 27 on the leading edge of knife 20, even the thickest and most resistant of materials can be cut quickly, cleanly, and efficiently. The cutting action is far more effective than would be possible if the web were unsupported. At the same time, however, the complementary nature of the knife teeth and web support channels join with the open space 31 to enable the knife to strike the web power- 4 fully and sharply while the knife itself remains totally free of contact with any other portion of the winder 10 machinery. Thus wear of the knife and knife teeth is minimized; damage to the web support and to the drive drum is avoided; and undesirable cutting actions against either the full roll or the new roll are prevented.

The web support is easily movable into the cutting position when the transfer cycle is to be initiated, and is readily storable in the parked position during the remainder of the winding cycle. This minimizes frictional wear and heating of the web support. Further, the web support easily and automatically moves beneath the web, when moved into the cutting position, and cycles in such a fashion that'it also easily avoids interference with both the full roll and the new core. An additional advantage of this invention is that the web support and knife are easily useable in a broad range of web handling machinery, to provide a substantial improvement in the ability thereof to. handle difficult webs of the nature described.

While the form of apparatus herein described constitutes a preferred embodiment of this invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to this precise form of apparatus, and that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

.1. In a continuous winder for web material including a frame, a driven drum supported in the frame for driving the roll being wound, main support means on the frame for supporting such roll in driven position with respect to the drum, and primary support means for re-' d. means on the frame supporting said web support for movement between a parked position out of engagement with the web and a cutting position wherein said web support is located between thedrum and the web in said knife path and in supporting relation with the web to receive the cutting stroke of said knife. 2. The winder of claim 1 wherein said web support supporting means further comprises'means for moving said web support about the axis of the drive drum.

3. The winder of claim 1 wherein said knife includes a plurality of teeth on the leading edge thereof, and wherein said web support has aplurality of channels therein complementary to said teeth for receiving said teeth therethrough during the cutting of the web and supporting the web for cutting and penetration by said teeth.

4. In a continuous winder for web material including a frame, a driven drum supported in the frame for driving the roll being wound, main support means on the frame for supporting such roll in driven position with respect to the drum, and primary support means for receiving and supporting a new core in starting position with respect to the drum, the improvement comprising:

a. a knife for cutting the web, said knife having a plurality of teeth on the leading edge thereof,

tween a parked position out of engagement with the web and a cutting position wherein said web support is located between the drum and the web in said knife path and in supporting relation with the web to receive said knife teeth in said web support channels during the cutting stroke of said knife.

l 'l i 

1. In a continuous winder for web material including a frame, a driven drum supported in the frame for driving the roll being wound, main support means on the frame for supporting such roll in driven position with respect to the drum, and primary support means for receiving and supporting a new core in starting position with respect to the drum, the improvement comprising: a. a knife for cutting the web, b. means on the frame supporting said knife for cutting movement toward the drum along a predetermined path between said positions of the roll and the new core, c. a web support, and d. means on the frame supporting said web support for movement between a parked position out of engagement with the web and a cutting position wherein said web support is located between the drum and the web in said knife path and in supporting relation with the web to receive the cutting stroke of said knife.
 2. The winder of claim 1 wherein said web support supporting means further comprises means for moving said web support about the axis of the drive drum.
 3. The winder of claim 1 wherein said knife includes a plurality of teeth on the leading edge thereof, and wherein said web support has a plurality of channels therein complementary to said teeth for receiving said teeth therethrough during the cutting of the web and supporting the web for cutting and penetration by said teeth.
 4. In a continuous winder for web material including a frame, a driven drum supported in the frame for driving the roll being wound, main support means on the frame for supporting such roll in driven position with respect to the drum, and primary support means for receiving and supporting a new core in starting position with respect to the drum, the improvement comprising: a. a knife for cutting the web, said knife having a plurality of teeth on the leading edge thereof, b. means on the frame supporting said knife for cutting movement toward the drum along a predetermined path between said positions of the roll and the new core, c. a web support having a plurality of channels therein complementary to said knife teeth, and d. means on the frame supporting said web support for movement about the axis of the drive drum between a parked position out of engagement with the web and a cutting position wherein said web support is located between the drum and the web in said knife path and in supporting relation with the web to receive said knife teeth in said web support channels during the cutting stroke of said knife. 